January 2023 Transfer Window

[Toussaint]

Just now, swannymere said:

The delay has cost us points, Lord Trousers should be ashamed.

Down with Trousers!

[trousers]

Just now, Toussaint said:

Down with Trousers!

[saintant]

It won't happen but I still think a decent keeper should be high on our list of priorities. A quick glance at our available choices should make that glaringly obvious.

[LuckyNumber7]

Doku looked sensational at the Euros and destined for big things so it's exciting to be linked with him. For whatever reason he doesn't seem to have pushed on since then but the ability is there without a doubt and if he had fulfilled his potential we would have no chance. Can't see it happening but would be exciting if it did. Like others have said though an out and out striker has to be the priority.

[Turkish]

1 hour ago, saintant said:

It won't happen but I still think a decent keeper should be high on our list of priorities. A quick glance at our available choices should make that glaringly obvious.

Agreed. It was a mess when we had Forster and McCarthy both crap and on long term big contracts, plus Gunn hanging around for a while. Just when you think we had a way out we go and extend McCarthy and bring in a YHGTI keeper who is worse than him. 

The idea of having a team full of YHGTIers is admirable but in reality it doesn't work, i hope they drop the experiment now and go back to how it should be, a core of experienced players with a squad with perhaps 3-4 talented youngsters with high potential, not signing players only for what we could sell them for in the future.

[sadoldgit]

4 hours ago, kelkel31 said:

We dont have this perception of work starting in January, we have evidence of window after window after window not getting players into the club early in the window even when there are glaringly obvious weaknesses in our squads.

Which doesn’t in anyway detract from my point. Ever since there have been transfer windows how often do clubs announce signings in the first few days of a new window? If you were an agent why would you suggest to your client that it was a good idea to sign for a club very early on without testing the market unless it was one of the bigger clubs? Even then it is not usual for transfers to be done very early on. Agents know we are desperate for a striker so you can imagine the leverage that gives them when looking for the best package going, not to mention the stronger position that puts the selling club in when it comes to price.

Yes it is frustrating, but it is the nature of the business and I am sure the owners would prefer to get players in sooner than rather later, just as we do.

Edited 10 January, 2023 by sadoldgit
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[HKsaint]

3 hours ago, Pamplemousse said:

 

No ide how reliable the source is but suggests we're looking at Doku, who Rennes don't want to leave because of injuries to other players

He seems to be another mane 

[Chez]

19 minutes ago, Turkish said:

Agreed. It was a mess when we had Forster and McCarthy both crap and on long term big contracts, plus Gunn hanging around for a while. Just when you think we had a way out we go and extend McCarthy and bring in a YHGTI keeper who is worse than him. 

The idea of having a team full of YHGTIers is admirable but in reality it doesn't work, i hope they drop the experiment now and go back to how it should be, a core of experienced players with a squad with perhaps 3-4 talented youngsters with high potential, not signing players only for what we could sell them for in the future.

If things weren't bad enough right now, you had to bring the goalkeeper position up. 😉

Are you counting Carlos Alcaraz as an experienced player or a youngster?

[Chez]

Just now, HKsaint said:

He seems to be another mane 

I was thinking more Ruel Fox

[StrangelyBrown]

1 hour ago, Turkish said:

Agreed. It was a mess when we had Forster and McCarthy both crap and on long term big contracts, plus Gunn hanging around for a while. Just when you think we had a way out we go and extend McCarthy and bring in a YHGTI keeper who is worse than him. 

The idea of having a team full of YHGTIers is admirable but in reality it doesn't work, i hope they drop the experiment now and go back to how it should be, a core of experienced players with a squad with perhaps 3-4 talented youngsters with high potential, not signing players only for what we could sell them for in the future.

I'm not sure Bazunu is worse than McCarthy? It's easy to forget how shit he is when you haven't seen him for a while.

[Ldnsaint]

would prefer him over Michael Keane 

[benali-shorts]

I think Dawson wanted the Wolves move in the summer to be back near his family so probably rules us out

[petermcpete]

Rennes paid 26m euros for Doku and he's still only 20, surely he's out of our price range unless they want rid for some reason?

[revolution saint]

27 minutes ago, petermcpete said:

Rennes paid 26m euros for Doku and he's still only 20, surely he's out of our price range unless they want rid for some reason?

Jeez, they paid 26m euros for an 18 year old?  I thought French clubs were skint (except PSG). 

[imadirtyurchin]

1 hour ago, Turkish said:

Agreed. It was a mess when we had Forster and McCarthy both crap and on long term big contracts, plus Gunn hanging around for a while. Just when you think we had a way out we go and extend McCarthy and bring in a YHGTI keeper who is worse than him. 

The idea of having a team full of YHGTIers is admirable but in reality it doesn't work, i hope they drop the experiment now and go back to how it should be, a core of experienced players with a squad with perhaps 3-4 talented youngsters with high potential, not signing players only for what we could sell them for in the future.

What exactly is YHGTI? Sorry I keep seeing it a but not quite sure of the meaning. My guess: YOung Hungry Going to Improve? 

[Turkish]

11 minutes ago, imadirtyurchin said:

What exactly is YHGTI? Sorry I keep seeing it a but not quite sure of the meaning. My guess: YOung Hungry Going to Improve? 

Young, Hungry, Guarenteed to improve.

It goes back to the days when every time we were linked with a young player they were always described as young, so will improve.

[DT]

4 hours ago, SotonianWill said:

Not until a striker is signed will this window be considered anything above a 6/10

Agreed. You can sign all the creators you like but if the bloke at the other end is Che 'Toblerone feet' Adams, you have a big problem.

[Turkish]

57 minutes ago, StrangelyBrown said:

I'm not sure Bazunu is worse than McCarthy? It's easy to forget how shit he is when you haven't seen him for a while.

not a lot in it to be fair, both very suspect. Neither fill you with confidence so cant imagine what they do to the back 4/5

[kjurwi]

I would like a Oriol Romeu type. Just an tackling, no nonsense ball winning midfielder.

[davefizzy14]

[S-Clarke]

3 hours ago, trousers said:

Dear Sport Republic,

We. Need. A. £20m-£30m bracket. Centre. Forward. To. Stand. A. Chance. Of. Staying. Up.

Thanks in advance,

Trousers (Lord)

Agree, not enough concrete on this at the moment. Half-hearted links to Akpom, Beto and Moffi aside there doesn't seem to be a huge amount of concrete links.

Whilst we do need reinforcements in attack, i.e wide/creativity etc, we surely cannot ignore the need for the focal point up top. Otherwise, what we're doing is just pointless, and it's frustrating because we're doing some good stuff, as we did in the summer (lavia/ABK), but if we continue to ignore that ST position it just renders anything else we do as pointless.

[Bad Wolf]

2 goals in 54 games in a sub par league. Sounds about right.

[Convict Colony]

3 hours ago, trousers said:

Dear Sport Republic,

We. Need. A. £20m-£30m bracket. Centre. Forward. To. Stand. A. Chance. Of. Staying. Up.

Thanks in advance,

Trousers (Lord)

I'd assumed we were just going to play 3 wingers and be a sexy no striker team.

[SuperSAINT]

3 minutes ago, Convict Colony said:

I'd assumed we were just going to play 3 wingers and be a sexy no striker team.

The way we’re going, it wouldn’t surprise me if we sign 3 wingers and then play with wing-backs. 

[Miltonaggro]

5 minutes ago, Convict Colony said:

I'd assumed we were just going to play 3 wingers and be a sexy no striker team.

Not sure you need wingers when the ball is 400 feet above the centre circle!

[Turkish]

4 hours ago, trousers said:

Dear Sport Republic,

We. Need. A. £20m-£30m bracket. Centre. Forward. To. Stand. A. Chance. Of. Staying. Up.

Thanks in advance,

Trousers (Lord)

Careful

youll be accused of demanding the club thrown Monopoly money around to get a deal done. We know how some don’t like that 

[northam soul]

14 minutes ago, SuperSAINT said:

The way we’re going, it wouldn’t surprise me if we sign 3 wingers and then play with wing-backs. 

We need that 3rd winger to run down the touch line between the Lino and fans to collect all the wayward long balls.

Oh sorry I forgot we are not a long ball side, just aggressive and front footed.

Lavia needs to be told that because against Forest he spent most of the game star gazing.

The poor bloke must of thought WTF is going on.

[Roboze]

is this him??

 

[Chez]

57 minutes ago, S-Clarke said:

Half-hearted links to Akpom, Beto and Moffi aside there doesn't seem to be a huge amount of concrete links.

Whether true or not, how can you say that "Saints have bid €15m for Moffi" is a `half-hearted' link? 

[Chez]

54 minutes ago, Convict Colony said:

I'd assumed we were just going to play 3 wingers and be a sexy no striker team.

I thought Jackson was more of a winger, or striker that played wide, but he played as one of two strikers against us in the pre season game. If he is a striker, his lack of goals is a concern, even if he is young and just starting out. 

I think Beto has been linked with Inter. If thats the case, like Gakpo, he might be another players that sees Saints as too small at this point in his career.

[Saint_clark]

2 hours ago, StrangelyBrown said:

I'm not sure Bazunu is worse than McCarthy? It's easy to forget how shit he is when you haven't seen him for a while.

Bazunu is worse. McCarthy is crap but I remember him making saves that you wouldn't expect him to make, Bazunu makes bog standard saves and then sometimes even those he palms into his own net.

 

[derry]

It might be we are putting enquiries out there to look like we are going for alternatives and use it as a way to push other negotiations on.

[Chez]

1 hour ago, revolution saint said:

Jeez, they paid 26m euros for an 18 year old?  I thought French clubs were skint (except PSG). 

if he ain't getting games for them, sounds like they fucked up/massively overpaid. Lets take him on loan with a view to a permanent deal (appropriately worded so we don't get shafted of course) and see if we can get a tune out of him before we splash £23 bloody million.

[AlexLaw76]

Saints sign EXPERIENCED keeper!!!

https://www.southamptonfc.com/news/2023-01-10/womens-gallery-beth-howard-signs-southampton-fc-women-january-2023

[derry]

9 minutes ago, Saint_clark said:

Bazunu is worse. McCarthy is crap but I remember him making saves that you wouldn't expect him to make, Bazunu makes bog standard saves and then sometimes even those he palms into his own net.

 

He doesn't chicken out at the near post or come out feet first to avoid getting clattered. If you don't like Bazuna fair enough but McCarthy shouldn't have been retained. Facing penalties he's a joke, half way to the post before the taker reaches the ball so is easily beaten going the wrong way. If we feel Bazunu isn't good enough then we have to get an international class goalkeeper who is better. As for palming into his own net it was AMN slicing the ball looping under the bar and the Lincoln centreback piling in on him. Two things VAR, it was a foul secondly why wasn't one of our players blocking the centreback aggressively as he should have been. We are far too passive and need a bit of the old don't take any prisoners mentality. Too many pussies.

Edited 10 January, 2023 by derry

[Saint_clark]

1 minute ago, derry said:

He doesn't chicken out at the near post or come out feet first to avoid getting clattered. If you don't like Bazuna fair enough but McCarthy shouldn't have been retained. Facing penalties he's a joke, half way to the post before the taker reaches the ball so is easily beaten going the wrong way. If we feel Bazunu isn't good enough then we have to get an international class goalkeeper who is better.

I'm not saying McCarthy should be our first choice, I wanted him gone as well, just that he would have saved some of the goals Bazunu has let in. And Forster would absolutely have us 5-6 points better off I have no doubt of that. But I expected us to let both of them go last summer and sign a quality, experienced goalkeeper, it was the perfect opportunity to finally sort the position out and they fucked it up. 

[derry]

5 minutes ago, Saint_clark said:

I'm not saying McCarthy should be our first choice, I wanted him gone as well, just that he would have saved some of the goals Bazunu has let in. And Forster would absolutely have us 5-6 points better off I have no doubt of that. But I expected us to let both of them go last summer and sign a quality, experienced goalkeeper, it was the perfect opportunity to finally sort the position out and they fucked it up. 

I'm not sure McCarthy would save much at all.

[verlaine1979]

The cautionary tale of looking at goal return from young players is Rafa Silva. When we were linked with him back in 2015 he was 22 and had 12 goals and 2 assists in about 50 starts for Braga. Modest stats and most (myself included) weren't bothered when we didn't get him. That said, I don't see the same level of technique and control in either Jackson or Doku (though the latter's pace is incredible).

[Saint_clark]

11 minutes ago, derry said:

I'm not sure McCarthy would save much at all.

Just checked, Bazunu has played one more game than McCarthy last season, has made less saves than him both overall and per game and has a save percentage of 53.5% of shots on target - McCarthy's was 63%. 

Bazunu has the second worst save percentage out of all goalkeepers, only Bournemouth's second choice keeper is worse, and nobody but those two have less than a 64% save rate. 

Edited 10 January, 2023 by Saint_clark

[Wade Garrett]

1 minute ago, Saint_clark said:

Just checked, Bazunu has played one more game than McCarthy last season, has made less saves than him both overall and per game and has a save percentage of 53.5% of shots on target - McCarthy's was 63%. 

Bazunu has the second worst save percentage out of all goalkeepers, only Bournemouth's second choice keeper is worse, and nobody but those two have less than a 60% save rate. 

Bazunu is not good enough for the Premier League.  We need a better keeper.  Why we paid all that money for him I will never know.

[Lord Duckhunter]

McCarthy let’s a few in that he should be saving, but Baz let’s some in that my mum should be saving. 

[derry]

That doesn't mean a thing. It shows no comparison of the quality of strike or whether the the shots were even saveable as many weren't. Unless the shots are measureable which they weren't there is nothing there to prove. Either player could have failed to deal with saveable shots, made saves from almost unsaveable shots or been beaten by unsaveable shots. Without that the numbers mean as little as possession figures passing the ball around the back four and goalkeeper inflating pass numbers. 

[badgerx16]

Baz is too young and inexperienced to be a PL starter. He is 2 years younger than that schoolboy Meslier playing for Leeds.

[ecurnew02]

Doku is a former wonder-kid (although he is still 20) and a few years ago looked like he had the potential to be a world class winger. He doesn’t have the goal contributions but he is absolutely rapid and one of the best ball carriers in all of Europe. He’d be an immediate upgrade on the right side IMO. Although he would only fit in a formation that uses out and out wingers 

[Pickles]

Doku seems like a pretty good young talent, but as others have said for the kind of money being bandied about that we would have to pay to get him, would rather that went towards a striker tbh.

Loan with an option to buy should be the furthest we go on this.

[StrangelyBrown]

1 hour ago, Saint_clark said:

Bazunu is worse. McCarthy is crap but I remember him making saves that you wouldn't expect him to make, Bazunu makes bog standard saves and then sometimes even those he palms into his own net.

 

Agreed, but Bazunu can kick a ball to our team... McCarthy can't. They're both shit and we should have better. The fact we're still in this league having had such bad keepers for so long is astounding. Even more astounding is that we've done nothing to make anything better so far...

[Hodgey]

13 minutes ago, derry said:

That doesn't mean a thing. It shows no comparison of the quality of strike or whether the the shots were even saveable as many weren't. Unless the shots are measureable which they weren't there is nothing there to prove. Either player could have failed to deal with saveable shots, made saves from almost unsaveable shots or been beaten by unsaveable shots. Without that the numbers mean as little as possession figures passing the ball around the back four and goalkeeper inflating pass numbers. 

That’s fair - and he is decent with his feet, but his performances so far suggest at best a slim upgrade on McCarthy and not as good as Forster. Again not his fault - it’s ours, player of the season for a league 1 team does not mean you are capable in the toughest league in the world. So far you would be very hard pushed to name more than 1 keeper worse than him and I’ve seen at least 3 goals I thought should be standard saves at that level.

[qwertyell]

32 minutes ago, Saint_clark said:

Just checked, Bazunu has played one more game than McCarthy last season, has made less saves than him both overall and per game and has a save percentage of 53.5% of shots on target - McCarthy's was 63%. 

Bazunu has the second worst save percentage out of all goalkeepers, only Bournemouth's second choice keeper is worse, and nobody but those two have less than a 64% save rate. 

He can't dive. Covers no ground at all. Short of stature. No spring in his legs. 

Saves most (not all - see the Palace game) of the shots straight at him, as you'd expect, but otherwise the opposition don't even need to find the corners of the net to beat him quite comfortably.

I don't see anything in his game to suggest he has the potential to be a top class keeper. Gunn had more to him, and he wasn't nearly up to scratch. 

 

[Osvaldorama]

43 minutes ago, Saint_clark said:

Just checked, Bazunu has played one more game than McCarthy last season, has made less saves than him both overall and per game and has a save percentage of 53.5% of shots on target - McCarthy's was 63%. 

Bazunu has the second worst save percentage out of all goalkeepers, only Bournemouth's second choice keeper is worse, and nobody but those two have less than a 64% save rate. 

Yep, none of this really matters without taking into account shots…
 

Which is exactly what the PsxG stat measures…

 

And Bazunu is -8.5, by far the worst in the league. He’s let in 8.5 shots that he should have saved. How many points is that?

 

I think he’s almost as big a problem as a striker. Combine both, and we are fucked 

Edited 10 January, 2023 by Osvaldorama

[Weston Super Saint]

2 hours ago, SuperSAINT said:

The way we’re going, it wouldn’t surprise me if we sign 3 wingers and then play with wing-backs. 

Can't be any more static than some we already have.